Israeli occupation forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Tuesday.

The Israeli military claimed that its forces opened fire during “a violent riot … in which dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks.”

However security camera footage appears to show that Muhammad Habali, 22, was shot while he was walking away from the direction of the soldiers’ fire and posed no conceivable threat to anyone:

The short clip shows men standing around in a street and walking away and occasionally looking around their shoulders and gesturing, presumably at Israeli soldiers.

A man carrying a thin pole, like a broomstick, walks in the same direction as the rest of the men, but more slowly. The video shows him falling forward onto the street, presumably after he has been shot from behind.

Palestinian health officials told media that Habali was shot in the head.

The video shows that Habali and the other men were walking away from the apparent source of the gunfire, contradicting the Israeli military’s statement that soldiers opened fire in the context of “riots.”

Another video shows Habali’s lifeless body lying on the street, suggesting that Israeli soldiers made no attempt to provide him first aid:

The video shows local people evacuating Habali in an ambulance, after assuring themselves that Israeli soldiers had left the area and it was safe to approach him.

Area residents told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency that “Habali is a disabled man who worked at a coffee shop in the city until late night hours.”

A photo of Habali circulated on social media following his death:

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist faction, said that the “execution” of Habali was in retaliation for Israel’s failure to capture Ashraf Naalwa, a Palestinian from a village near Tulkarm who is suspected of shooting and killing two Israelis at a settlement industrial plant in early October.

Of the nearly 300 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces so far this year, more than 30 were shot and killed in the occupied West Bank – several during raids on cities, villages and refugee camps.

Deadly raids

In late October, Muhammad Mahmoud Bisharat, 23, was shot and killed and two others were critically injured during a raid in the village of Tamoun, near the town of Tubas.

Bisharat’s brother told the Ma’an News Agency that the young man had met with friends to repel occupation forces from the village but they were ambushed by soldiers who opened heavy fire towards them.

Israeli soldiers shot Yasin al-Saradih, 35, in the stomach during a raid on Jericho in February, killing him, in what the human rights group Al-Haq said may amount to a war crime “giving rise to individual criminal responsibility at the International Criminal Court.”

Immediately following the incident the Israeli military first alleged that al-Saradih had attacked soldiers with a knife and tried to steal one of their guns. They also claimed that army medics treated al-Saradih on the scene – both claims contradicted by the eyewitness testimony and video footage obtained by Al-Haq.

Israel has conducted an average of 84 military search and arrest operations per week in the West Bank this year, according to the UN monitoring group OCHA.

Pre-dawn raids, undertaken without a warrant or notice while residents are typically asleep, are used to ensure Israel’s “subjugation of the Palestinian population and as a method of social control,” Al-Haq states.

A 22-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces, on predawn Tuesday, in the northern occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.
According to medical sources, Muhammad Hussam Habali, 22, was shot by Israeli forces and immediately transferred to the Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem, where he was pronounced dead.
Medical sources added that Habali was shot as Israeli forces raided a western neighborhood in Tulkarem, leading to violent clashes among Palestinian youths and Israeli forces.

Tuesday December 4, 2018, 10:18 pm
Shot In the Head, His Back to Soldiers.

On Tuesday, hundreds of mourners carried Habali's body through the streets for funeral prayers.Photos by Majdi Mohammed/AP

Israeli soldiers just shot and killed Muhammad Habali, a 22-year-old disabled man, as he walked home from work in Tulkarem, in the northern occupied West Bank, during a late-night raid on the neighborhood. After leaving his job at a coffee shop, Habali crossed a street where Israeli forces were attacking residents and local Palestinians were trying to defend their homes - or, in the words of the IDF, "a violent riot was instigated and dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks at IDF troops, (who) responded with riot dispersal means and later on with live fire." They shot Habali with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the groin before shooting him again in the head. According to his older brother Alaa Hussam - and video footage - "His back was towards the soldiers. He was walking away from them." Habali, who had difficulty speaking, lived with seven siblings and was "simple and quiet...always helping people."

The assault on Tulkarem was one of almost nightly raids by Israeli forces in occupied territories, usually between midnight and dawn, ostensibly to search for "wanted" Palestinians and potential attackers but largely to terrorize an already beleaguered people. Often illegally crossing into areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the raids are catastrophically successful: According to Palestinian sources, in November alone the IDF killed 24 Palestinians (mostly in Gaza), arrested 260, including children, and issued 33 deportation orders. Thus have Israeli forces "repeatedly violated...international law by responding to stone-throwing protests by using excessive force," says Amnesty International, and the murder of innocents like Muhammad Habali is "nothing new." From Yousef Munayyer to the willfully incognizant CNN and others in U.S. media who cling to the illusion of Israel as "the holy of holies": "From the River to the Sea, Israel practices Apartheid. If you are more bothered by people calling for freedom and equality between the river and the sea than the actual horrific reality on the ground there, maybe the problem is with you.

TULKAREM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian crowds marched in the funeral of Muhammad Habali, 22, on Tuesday noon, in Tulkarem City in the northern occupied West Bank.

Habali was shot and killed by Israeli forces on predawn Tuesday; Israeli forces shot Habali with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the leg before shooting him a second time in the head, causing him a critical injury.

Hundreds of Palestinians carried Habali's body on shoulders from the Thabet Thabet Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, in Tulkarem City to his family home before burial took place at the al-Shuhada cemetery in the city.

Locals told Ma'an that Habai is a disabled man who worked at a coffee shop in the city until late night hours.

Brother of Mohammed Ihbali says he was walking with his back to soldiers when they shot him in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered for the funeral of a 22-year-old disabled Palestinian who was shot in the head by Israeli forces during an early morning raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Tuesday.

Mohammed Ihbali was shot with live ammunition in the head and groin area, and was pronounced dead after he was rushed to Thabet Thabet Hospital also in Tulkarem, according to local media outlets and a family member.

He was killed when Israeli forces raided his neighbourhood and, in response, young Palestinians reportedly defended their homes.

Ihbali's older brother, Alaa Hussam Ihbali, told Middle East Eye that Mohammed was leaving work at a local coffee shop in the Khoudouri area when he crossed a street where Israeli forces and local Palestinians were clashing.

"His back was towards the soldiers. He was walking away from them and from the clash area," Ihbali said. Footage from a surveillance camera shared on social media after the incident appears to confirm Ihbali's account.

An Israeli army spokesperson told MEE that soldiers were conducting an operation in the city "during which a violent riot was instigated and dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks at the IDF troops".

"Troops responded with riot dispersal means and later on with live fire," he added, declining to comment specifically on what happened to Ihbali

Ihbali, who family members said had difficulty speaking, lived with seven brothers and sisters in the Tulkarem refugee camp. Alaa said his brother was "simple and quiet".

"He's really lovely, always helping people, not the type to get involved in problems," he said.

Videos posted online on Tuesday showed mourners trailing behind Ihbali as he was carried through the city's narrow streets on Tuesday afternoon before funeral prayers.

'Random and senseless killing'

Israeli army forces frequently raid homes in all areas of the West Bank, despite the fact that Area A - which includes Tulkarem - and Area B are nominally under the political control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Under the Oslo Accords that paved the way for the creation of the PA - a political entity intended to usher in the creation of an independent Palestinian state - the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C.

Area A represents 18 percent of the territory, officially under full PA political and security control.

Area B makes up 22 percent of the West Bank, under PA political control and Israeli military control. The remaining 60 percent falls in Area C, under full Israeli military control.

In practice, however, the Israeli army often carries out raids in all parts of the West Bank, and the PA has maintained its security cooperation with Israel despite the scores of Palestinians killed at the hands of Israeli troops.

The "disproportionate presence of military and police" inside the West Bank during Israeli arrest raids "is likely to continue unless this cycle of impunity is broken," he said.

"Israeli forces for decades have repeatedly violated their obligations under international law by responding to stone-throwing protests by using excessive force, including live fire against protesters, causing unlawful and unnecessary deaths and injuries," Zeyad told MEE.

"The Israeli authorities must hold those found responsible for these grave violations to account through fair trials. If this does not happen, we will not see an end to Israeli forces’ random and senseless killing of Palestinians."

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli forces have killed 27 Palestinians in the West Bank in 2018, not including Ihbali.

The UN had also noted that Israeli forces also injured more than 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank.

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